In an effort to curb the crippling scourge of cable theft, Tshwane metro is offering R10 000 reward for information that may lead to the arrest of perpetrators.
Cable theft costs the city about R5 million every month, prompting the metro to establish an anti-cable theft unit and offer a reward to anyone who can provide information on cable theft syndicates.
Tshwane mayor, Solly Msimanga, announced on Thursday that a R10 000 reward was on offer to anyone whose information helped towards apprehension of the perpetrators.
Msimanga said cable theft threatened the provision of reliable provision of services to communities across the city and it flourished because there was a market for the stolen commodity.
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“We cannot, therefore, target only those that steal cables but we have to know where the material ends up. Buyers have a responsibility to ensure that the material they are buying is not stolen property by insisting on the relevant documentation to see where the cable came from. Often, we find that the buyers are in cahoots with the thieves as they buy from them at below the market price.
“Buyers purchasing this stolen property will not be spared, they will be subject to the law.”
The anti-cable theft unit has been tasked to have proactive and reactive interventions at electrical substations, cable trenches, and main feeders. The unit also has targeted operations at second-hand dealers in order to curb the sale of stolen nonferrous metals.
The mayor said that while metro police have made significant strides in the recent past to curb cable theft, members of the community should also become active agents and report cases of crime in their areas.
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